Against All Odds
by IzzyBea2408
Summary: Gabe murdered Sally and somehow the blame was put on Percy. On impulse, Percy ran from the cops and wound up at the train station where he met Annabeth Chase. He starts to have strong feelings for her but with cops chasing after him, a girl surely is the least of his worries. Right?
1. Prologue

Prologue.

Percy was never one to worry or stress over anything. He always went with the flow, it didn't matter to him that he was failing in most classes, he never fretted over the future like some people his age did. Going with the flow made life easier.

But something was off. The air was tense and the normal loud, rough streets of his neighbour hood was eerily quite. Without knowing it, Percy started to walk faster, heart thumping loudly with anticipation.

A house with shattered windows, overgrown gardens, a door hanging off its hinges that was forced shut and the smell of cheap beer and cigarettes radiated from the building. Percy sighed, home sweet home.

His mother, Sally had always longed for a cute country cottage with weeping willow trees and pink cherry blossoms in the garden, light wooden walls and a thatched roof. The rooms would be tiny but cosy with comfortable furniture and it would always smell of freshly baked cookies. They'd be able to look out to the garden that was filled with flowers and there would be a small stream running through.

The sixteen year old insisted that those types of things only existed in stories and dreams which was a futile argument because his Mother's head was filled with stories. She wished to be an author, she worked hard on her books in her free time but in reality, Sally spent her time in a candy store, daydreaming about things she could never afford for her son and herself.

Percy twisted the door knob and threw his bag on the ground. If he were paying attention, he might of noticed the crimson blood on the floor that lead upstairs but his stupid ADHD made it hard for him to concentrate on small things like that. Percy's step father, Gabe didn't work and he normally, he was drinking beer watching the TV in the living room and when Sally was gone, he was frequently brutal to the teenager.

Not wanting to disturb Gabe, Percy grabbed his Math textbook from his bag and walked up to his room, planning to study for a test he had the next day that he would surely fail. On the upstairs landing, Percy noticed that his Mum's and step fathers bedroom door was dented inwards. Curiously, he moved closer to inspect it.

It looked as if the door had been kicked in and the person who had tried it had succeeded. Now that his ear was so close to the other side of the door, he heard faint whispers. Percy pressed his ear against the door and tried to make out what was going on.

"No..."

"Get... you... brat..."

"Please..."

"Quickly... he... home..."

There was a loud thud and Percy decided that it was probably a good time to intervene. He opened the door and the sight before him made him scream. The stained, worn cream carpet was covered in blotches of blood, Sally was faced down on the floor, her hair a mess and clothes in tatters, Gabe stood over her with a sharp kitchen knife that was also completely red. Gabe's face was red with fury and as soon as he heard the door creak open, he plunged the knife into the back of Sally's neck.

It was quiet and Percy heard the knife hit his Mother's bone. Gabe smashed glass over Sally and then walked out the room, mumbling things about needing a cigarette. Percy knelt next to his mother with worry etched at his face. He didn't dare try to move her but he had to do something!

She couldn't just die. Not like this.

Percy's mind was going insane. Thoughts drifted in and out of his head as he tried to figure out what happened. He guessed that his Mum had come home from work early, Gabe was drunk and thought it was Percy ditching school, Gabe thought it was Percy and started shouting, Sally ran to the bedroom and locked the door in fear, Gabe chased after her with a knife and bashed the door in then he injured Sally greatly.

"Mum," Percy whispered with fear and tears thick in his voice.

"Percy," Sally whispered softly. "You have to run."

Percy shook his head stubbornly, suddenly his Mum moved her head a little bit and let out a shattering, ear piercing shriek so laced with pain, Percy shivered. "Please," She croaked after she gained some composure, her eyes began to droop but the green eyed boy refused to think she was dying. "Remeber something."

Percy nodded and grasped his Mum's pale hand. "Everything is better in blue."

Percy laughed despite the tears running down his face. He and his Mother shared the love of the colour blue and Gabe had said that making blue food was impossible so the pair poured blue food dye into everything. Cookies, pancakes, everything.

Sally let out a small breath and closed her eyes, her head lulled to the side, Percy screamed as he felt coldness force its way around his heart, squeezing and twisting. He knew his Mum would never open her eyes again, he was alone with Gabe and that scared the hell out of him. What would he do without her? He'd have no one to come home to, he'd have no one to make him laugh since he had no friends at school, he'd have no one.

He rested in head against his Mum's forehead and began to cry softly, silently shaking with sobs. No more than ten minutes had passed before Percy heard sirens and the glow or red and blue police lights. Instantly, he panicked. He heard them bang on the front door, he heard Gabe talking to the police and then he heard footsteps coming to the room he was in.

Percy didn't care. Everything was hazy and it all blurred together, the world rushed past, the sun still shined and the birds still sang. How could anything work after what he had just witnessed? The sun isn't meant to shine, his Mum had just died and somehow, the sun still shone.

"Stand up and put your hands above your head!" He heard a deep, stern voice said. He didn't know who the voice was talking too but he put his hands above his head and stood anyway.

"Perseus Jackson," Percy flinched at his full name. It always meant he was in trouble. "You are under arrest for murder against Sally Jackson."

Percy's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. What? His eyes searched the doorway for Gabe, he stood at the back with a smug look on his face. What? Then, Percy realised how this must look. His mother dead on the ground with a knife buried in her neck covered in blood and Percy standing over her, his clothes splattered with blood.

They thought he had killed his own Mother because Gabe had lied once again! Percy could feel his heart thumping so loudly it rattled his rips, his eyes moved frantically around the Policemen's faces and at that moment, he could only think of one logical thing to do.

Percy pushed passed the cops and ran.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One.

The wind was strong and unforgiving. It whipped Percy as he ran, he didn't know where he was going and he didn't have anything but what he kept in his pockets from school. His mobile, about seven bucks in cash and a scrap piece of paper he used to doodle on in class whenever he got bored.

Maybe it was the adrenaline of running from cops or the thrill of finally escaping the evil clutches of Gabe but Percy had never felt more alive. It was mid November and the teen was wearing nothing but a dark blue shirt and black jeans and black high tops, he was freezing. It didn't matter, nothing mattered. He was free. He was free from Gabe and he didn't care where he ended up, hell he'd sleep in a muddy, rat infested ditch if he had to! As long as he wasn't under Gabe's roof anymore.

Somehow, Percy wound up at the train station. He stopped running and took several deep breaths to calm his racing heart. After he had caught his breath, he went to sit in a small and crowded cafe inside the station. Percy hadn't even thought about the time but from the amount of people wearing business suits and weary faces, he guessed it was about five O'clock. It'd be hard to get anywhere at rush hour in New York.

The boy ran a hand through his black hair and sighed loudly. Where could he go? He had no relatives that he knew of, his Mother had been an only child and he hadn't spoken to his Grandparents since he was two and he certainly wouldn't stay with Gabe's family. He could hop on a train and just stop off anywhere that looked interesting, Percy thought that seven dollars should be enough to buy a single train ticket and small bottle of water.

He bought his ticket and water and found that he had only a mere quarter left. Percy debated whether or not to pick up a small train map to carry around in case he got lost but come on! He was a New Yorker, a hard-core New Yorker who knew his way around confusing places with his eyes closed.

Checking the time on his wrist watch, Percy realised that he only had two minutes before the train left. Leaving the map, he grabbed his ticket and jogged to the train.

Linebreak.

The doors closed behind Percy, he let out a breath and searched for a seat, thankfully he found an empty one next to a blonde girl. He walked up to her and cleared his throat to make his presence known. "Excuse me?" He said.

The girl looked up from the book she was reading, Percy got a good look at her. She looked to be about Percy's age, maybe a few months younger. "Yes?" She answered sweetly.

For a second, Percy was lost in her stormy eyes. They were grey but not just your average boring grey, these were hypnotic with flecks of blue and gold. He shook his head to clear off any thoughts that may distract him and replied to the golden haired girl. "Um..." He stuttered like an idiot. "This seat taken?"

The grey eyes shone with laughter, "No," She closed her book and slid it into the mint green rucksack at her feet. "You can sit there."

Percy nodded and sat next to her, he felt like he should say something but trying to find a suitable conversation starter that wouldn't make him look like a twit was hard. Luckily, the girl striked to speaking first. "I'm Annabeth Chase. What's your name?"

Percy couldn't help but notice that she didn't have the common New Yorker accent that he had so he tried to conceal it as best he could. "Percy Jackson," He smiled. "You aren't from here are you?"

Annabeth grinned. "I was visiting a friend for a few days, how about you? Why are you here alone?"

He chuckled slightly, "Am I not old enough to be out alone?" He carefully dodged the question since he was unsure as to how he would answer and he prayed that Annabeth didn't notice the slight change in his demeanour.

"Depends, how old are you? I'm sixteen from July."

"Seventeen, August." Huh, Percy was right about the similar age.

Annabeth nodded thoughtfully and the conversation between the two was silenced. "So," Percy continued, trying to avoid the awkwardness that may follow if they didn't continue chatting. "Where does your family live?" He thought over what he just said for a second, "Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a stalker or anything."

"California originally but a few months ago my Dad and step family moved to Washington for my Dad's job." Annabeth sighed. "I miss it but Washington's great and there's quite a lot of new libraries to explore so..." She trailed off.

"So you're kind of a wise girl?" Percy guessed, Annabeth sat up straighter at the comment.

"Wise girl?" She snorted. "I don't know about that. I'm just smarter than most people."

Percy laughed, "Shocking."

Annabeth turned to face Percy with a quizzical expression, "How so?"

"Well," Percy shrugged with an amused smile on his face. "For a blonde."

The grey eyed girl's face turned a dangerous shade of red as she glared daggers at Percy. "That's stereotypical." She growls. "Just because I am blonde does not mean I am dumb! Seriously, they wondered why I stayed after school for extra credit. It's to prove dumbasses like you wrong!"

Percy smiled at her, "Your cool."

Annabeth rolled her eyes but she couldn't help the blush dusting her cheek and faint smile dancing on her lips. "Where ya heading?"

Percy rested his head against the train window and closed his eyes briefly. "Not sure." After all the talk with the girl sitting beside him, Percy had completely forgotten about the events within the past few hours. Now that he had reminded himself, he had to hold his breath and bite his lip to stop from crying.

"Why don't you come back to my place? If you don't have any plans or things." Annabeth suggested.

Percy paused for a moment, thinking over Annabeth's idea. He barely even knew her but she seemed nice enough and anything was better than sleeping outside. He nodded, "As long as you don't plan on murdering me in the night."

Annabeth laughed, a pretty and delicate sound that could only of come from an Angel. "I can't make any promises."

 **Carry on or is this too unrealistic? Because if it then I'll just simply scrap this entirely and make a new story about High School Percy abused by Gabe. Let me know in the reviews!**

 **Love you guys,**

 **Isabelle x**


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